Archives for May 2009

In the April edition of our newsletter, we had reported that changes were coming to the popular U.S. Visa Holder category of the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP). Earlier this month, those changes were announced and, as suspected, the list of qualifying occupations was reduced. Eight of the information technology (IT) occupations have been removed from the list. Though the program remains open to U.S. H1B holders with experience in 73 management, business, science, and health occupations, some IT professionals no longer qualify for the program. Nevertheless, several other Canadian immigration options remain open to these individuals.

Like the Federal Skilled Worker category, the appeal of the AINP H1B program is that applicants do not need a job offer to qualify. In order to succeed, AINP applicants simply must have been working in the United States on a temporary work visa* for at least one year in an occupation that is in high demand in Alberta. Federal Skilled Worker applicants, on the other hand, must achieve 67 points based on six selection factors in order to qualify.

The Alberta H1B fast-track immigration program is still wide open to temporary workers in the United States who have work experience in one of the listed 73 qualifying occupations. Engineers, Sales and Marketing Managers, Financial Auditors, Biologists, Electrical Technicians, Urban Planners, and Pharmacists, among others, are still welcomed by the program. Additionally, “Computer and Information Systems Managers” remains on Alberta’s list of occupations under pressure.

The eight IT occupations that were removed from the AINP list had been among the most popular under the U.S. Visa Holder category.

“A big chunk of the AINP applicants we’ve represented are IT professionals on H1B’s and I’m glad that so many of them seized the opportunity while it was still available to them,” says Canadian immigration Attorney David Cohen. “Though this option is now closed for IT professionals, there may be several other Canadian immigration options still available to them.”

IT workers with North American experience are highly sought-after candidates for immigration to Canada, says Cohen. They may still be able to qualify for Canadian immigration through the Federal Skilled Worker category or through another Provincial Nomination Program.

“And because their applications can be processed at Canadian immigration visa offices in the United States, they will likely be processed just as quickly as AINP applicants anyway.”

This is yet another example, says Cohen, of how government immigration officials can make changes at their discretion with little or no warning and why qualified applicants should not delay in the submission of their Canadian immigration applications.

Entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses are an important part of the Canadian economy. If, as a potential Canadian immigrant, you would like to establish and manage your own business in Canada, the Entrepreneur category of Canadian Business immigration could be your ticket to Canadian Permanent Residency. The federal and provincial governments strongly encourage newcomers to invest in new or existing businesses across the country, bringing their international experience to the Canadian economy. The federal Entrepreneur category of Business Class immigration was created to do just that, and many provincial Entrepreneur programs have subsequently emerged as well.

Municipalities across Canada are requesting a greater say in immigration and settlement planning, says a recent report by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Many Canadian city mayors believe that they do not receive enough funding to properly meet the needs of new immigrants and to cope with changing settlement trends. Municipalities are on the front line of helping newcomers settle and integrate, playing a critical role in building a strong and multicultural nation.

Large diverse Canadian cities like Toronto, Ontario, have a wide array of government-funded immigrant settlement services, which are a key component to successful settlement and integration of newcomers. Smaller municipalities, however, receive much less government funding and are finding it increasingly difficult to offer additional immigrant services to the growing number of newcomers.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) report indicates that although the majority of newcomers settle in large cities, a growing number of immigrants are choosing to settle in suburbs or smaller cities.

FCM President Jean Perrault is calling for a greater involvement on the part of municipal governments in federal-provincial/territorial discussions on immigration. With a greater voice for municipals governments, he says, federal investments in immigrant settlement can be better designed to meet municipal requirements.

“Cities are the primary providers of immigrant settlement services,” says the Liberal Immigration Critic Maurizio Bevilacqua, citing the importance of direct federal funding to municipalities for newcomer settlement and integration.

Another recent report on immigration to Ontario indicates that half the people who immigrated to Canada between 1996 and 2006 settled in Ontario, with 456,000 settling in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

The City of Toronto, which receives a significant amount of federal funding for its newcomer settlement services, is the one of Canada’s strongest examples of multiculturalism and the successful integration of immigrant communities. It is considered one of the most diverse cities on Earth, with dozens of languages spoken in the streets and nearly fifty per cent of the population belonging to visible minority groups. The city’s official motto, “Diversity Our Strength” represents a population where 75 per cent are either first or second-generation Canadians.

Toronto is also considered the fifth-most-livable city in the world by an Economist Intelligence Unit report based on indicators of stability, health care, culture, environment, education, and infrastructure.

Nevertheless, the FCM report shows that immigrants to the GTA are increasingly choosing to live in Toronto’s surrounding suburbs rather than the heart of the city. It is these municipalities, and other such smaller cities in Canada, that need greater federal funding to provide culturally sensitive services to newcomers, such as public health services, more affordable housing, language training, and targeted recreational programs.

Under the current funding allocation structure, it is up to provincial governments to determine where settlement money should be spent, says Julie Carmichael, a spokesperson from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

“… [our] government has invested $1.4 billion more in integration projects since coming to office and that includes language and job training. Our focus now is on working with the provinces to encourage the uptake of those settlement services among new Canadians.”

In recent years, Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) has been opened up to make it easier for Canadian employers to hire foreign workers to fill labour shortages in their growing businesses. As a result, the annual number of foreign workers coming to Canada has skyrocketed over the past few years, and a growing proportion of them are unskilled. Foreign worker advocates are now calling for a review of the program to better protect foreign worker rights and to explore avenues to allow them to transition to Canadian Permanent Residents.

Both federal and provincial governments have recognized the need for reforms to Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Reports of recommendations have been published and are currently being reviewed by program coordinators.

In Alberta, where the number of foreign workers ballooned in the province to nearly 60,000 in December 2008 up from just under 40,000 a year earlier, the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) has been taking measures to better protect foreign worker rights. In December 2007, the AFL established an advisory office and helpline for temporary foreign worker complaints and concerns. It also conducts worksite audits to ensure that Alberta employers are compliant with provincial labour standards.

The AFL recently released a report calling for “the immediate end to the TFWP in its current form” and for the creation of mechanisms to offer Canadian Permanent Residency to all temporary foreign workers currently in Canada.

Additionally, a Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee report on illegal and temporary foreign workers has recently been tabled in the House of Commons, offering dozens of recommendations to improve the TFWP.

The recommendations include getting rid of a current rule that ties work permits to a specific Canadian employer along with improved measures to protect workers from unscrupulous recruitment agencies and employers.

“I rather suspect that a goodly number of their recommendations will find their way into law when the government implements changes to the program,” stated a spokesperson for Canada’s Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney. “The Minister is currently consulting with cultural communities and employers on how to improve the temporary foreign worker program as well as the live-in caregiver program to better protect foreign workers, with a view to implementing tougher regulations in the upcoming months.”

Last month, Manitoba introduced a new Worker Recruitment and Protection Act to address certain issues faced by temporary foreign workers in the province. The Act requires that all foreign worker recruitment agencies be registered and licensed by the province and prohibits recruitment agencies from charging fees to foreign workers. Manitoba has also implemented an improved regulatory system, requiring both employers and recruitment agencies to submit detailed records about the place of employment, the workers’ duties and wages, and up-to-date contact information for the temporary foreign workers.

Foreign worker advocates are calling for similar legislation across the country.

While these reports and recommendations are being reviewed, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is currently running an awareness campaign to inform temporary foreign workers and potential Canadian immigrants about how to protect themselves from dishonest and unethical immigration consultants and representatives.

Around this time last year most Canadians were relieved to learn that Ms Brenda Martin, a Canadian Citizen, had been brought back to Canada after having languished for more than two years in a Mexican Prison.